Driving Value with Sprint Goals: Humble Plans, Exceptional Results

Driving Value with Sprint Goals: Humble Plans, Exceptional Results

by Maarten Dalmijn
Released July 2023
Publisher(s): Addison-Wesley Professional
ISBN: 9780137381876

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Book description

Building great software requires outstanding teamwork across multiple disciplines. All teams and participants need to align behind clear goals that deliver real value (outcomes), not just lots of features (output). Sprint Goals are the most powerful tool Scrum/Agile teams have to pursue high-value outcomes, but many Scrum Teams avoid them, misuse them, or struggle to apply them. Succeeding with Sprint Goals covers everything you need to define, create, and execute on Sprint Goals that deliver outstanding value to customers and the business.

Leading Scrum practitioner Maarten Dalmijn bridges the gap between theory and practice, offering a fresh, unique, and cohesive perspective on the Scrum framework that will be valuable to every Product Owner, Product Manager, Scrum Master, Agile coach, and technology executive. You will learn why Sprint Goals are so important, how to use them throughout the Sprint and at Review and Retrospective, how to overcome common obstacles to success, and how to use them to build high-performing teams.

As Dalmijn presents critical Scrum and product management fundamentals through the lens of the Sprint Goal, he helps you move your entire organization from low-value "feature factories" to high-value outcomes.

Table of contents

  1. Cover Page
  2. About This eBook
  3. Praise for Driving Value with Sprint Goals
  4. HalfTitle Page
  5. Title Page
  6. Copyright Page
  7. Pearson’s Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
  8. Dedication Page
  9. Contents
  10. Foreword by Jurgen Appelo
  11. Foreword by Janna Bastow
  12. Introduction
  13. Acknowledgments
  14. About the Author
  15. Part I: Why Goals Matter
    1. Chapter 1. Imperfect Plans, Flawed Execution, and Unpredictable Results
      1. Dealing with the “Fog of Beforehand” One Step at a Time
      2. Facing the Unknown in Software Development
      3. How the Agile Manifesto Covers Common Anti-Patterns for Dealing with Friction
      4. Key Takeaways
    2. Chapter 2. More Friction, More Surprises
      1. The Cynefin Model: Being Aware of Your Situation
      2. Key Takeaways
    3. Chapter 3. Countering Friction by Leading with Intent
      1. The Tragedy of Following the Plan and the Resulting Transformation of the Prussian and German Army
      2. Auftragstaktik: Obeying Intent Rather Than Blindly Following Orders
      3. Closing the Three Gaps by Leading with Intent
      4. Turn the Ship Around: Intent-Based Leadership on a Submarine
      5. Key Takeaways
    4. Chapter 4. Tales of Opposing Goals
      1. Why Do Common Goals Matter?
      2. Working Together with Opposing Goals
      3. Surviving in Roadmap Hell
      4. How Do Common Goals Enable Teamwork?
      5. Key Takeaways
      6. Part I Overall Takeaways
  16. Part II: Sprint Goals Are the Beating Heart of Scrum
    1. Chapter 5. A Featherlight Introduction to Scrum
      1. Scrum: Sprinting One Step at a Time
      2. The Sprint Contains All Scrum Events
      3. Scrum Deals with Friction Through Feedback Loops
      4. Key Takeaways
    2. Chapter 6. The Fundamental Role of Sprint Goals in Scrum
      1. The Essence of Scrum: Sprint with a Goal
      2. What Are the Scrum Artifacts Together with Their Commitments?
      3. How Do Product Goals Fit In?
      4. How Does Scrum Help with Countering Friction and Dealing with Surprises?
      5. Key Takeaways
    3. Chapter 7. What Happens When You Don’t Use Sprint Goals?
      1. Sprint Loses Its Purpose and the Sprint Backlog Becomes the Goal
      2. Following the Plan Becomes More Important Than Meeting the Objective
      3. Everything in the Sprint Becomes Equally Important
      4. Working Without Sprint Goals Leads to Technical Debt
      5. No Control Over What Gets Finished
      6. Key Takeaways
    4. Chapter 8. Two Very Different Versions of Scrum
      1. Why Do Many People Believe Scrum Isn’t Agile?
      2. Anaconda-Style Scrum and Hummingbird-Style Scrum in Practice
      3. Key Takeaways
      4. Part II Overall Takeaways
  17. Part III: Driving Value with Sprint Goals
    1. Chapter 9. Creating Sprint Goals
      1. What Is a Sprint Goal?
      2. Crafting Sprint Goals with the FOCUS Mnemonic
      3. Key Takeaways
    2. Chapter 10. Sprint Goals in Practice at the Scrum Events
      1. Why Should You Start Discussing the Sprint Goal at the Sprint Review?
      2. Crafting a Sprint Goal During Sprint Planning
      3. Why You Shouldn’t Plan Your Sprint at Full Capacity
      4. Creating a Sprint Goal Without a Refined Product Backlog
      5. The Sprint Goal at the Daily Scrum
      6. The Sprint Goal at the Sprint Review
      7. The Sprint Goal at the Sprint Retrospective
      8. Key Takeaways
    3. Chapter 11. More Features, More Value?
      1. How Does Our Product Deliver Value?
      2. Selling Rocks as Pets
      3. The Cookie Store That Was Guaranteed to Fail
      4. Value Is Multifaceted and a Matter of Perspective
      5. Value Is a Tricky Subject
      6. Building a Product Starts with Listening
      7. The Three Types of Uncertainty
      8. The Cobra Effect: When Exterminating Cobras Causes a Cobra Population Boom
      9. Having Outputs Drive the Right Outcomes
      10. Meeting Aggressive Timelines Is Often the Biggest Enemy of Delivering Value
      11. Focusing on Meeting Specifications Limits You to Beforehand Knowledge
      12. Why You Should Stop Obsessing Over Your Velocity
      13. All Features Are Innocent of Delivering Value Until Proven Guilty
      14. Output Focus: People Don’t Want a Quarter-Inch Drill
      15. Key Takeaways
    4. Chapter 12. Driving Outcomes with Outputs
      1. Having Only Features on Your Product Backlog Is Not Good Enough
      2. A Single Metric to Rule Them All?
      3. Why Should Your Product Backlog Be Short?
      4. Don’t Waste Too Much Time on “A Priori” Prioritization
      5. Key Takeaways
    5. Chapter 13. Product Vision: A Purposeful Direction for Your Product
      1. Dispelling the Mystery of a Product Vision
      2. The Lab Mouse Meant for Bigger Things
      3. The Swiss Aerodynamics Engineer Who Married an Italian Woman
      4. Key Takeaways
    6. Chapter 14. Product Strategy
      1. Strategy Means Striking at Weakness
      2. Strategy Is Designing a Way to Deal with a Challenge
      3. Key Takeaways
      4. Part III Overall Takeaways
  18. Part IV: Overcoming Common Sprint Goal Obstacles
    1. Chapter 15. Scrum Anti-Patterns That Amplify Friction and Surprises
      1. Spikes for Everything: Knowledge Gap
      2. Christmas Wish List Backlog: Knowledge Gap
      3. Groundhog Day Refinement: Knowledge Gap
      4. Eternal Sprint Planning: Knowledge and Alignment Gaps
      5. Interruption Planning: Alignment Gap
      6. Definition of Ready: Knowledge and Effects Gaps
      7. Fixating on Pretty Burn-Down Charts: Knowledge, Alignment, and Effects Gaps
      8. Embrace Not Knowing and Act in the Moment
      9. Key Takeaways
    2. Chapter 16. Dealing with Common Sprint Goal Obstacles
      1. Too Many Competing Priorities
      2. Impossible to Set a Single Sprint Goal
      3. The Sprint Backlog Is the Goal
      4. The Sprint Goal as an Afterthought
      5. Sprint Goals Tied to the Solution Direction
      6. The Product Owner Decides the Sprint Goal
      7. Too Many Dependencies on Other Teams
      8. The Team Is Scared to Commit to a Sprint Goal
      9. Too Much WIP (Work in Progress)
      10. Opposing Goals Between Teams
      11. Management Love for the Feature Factory
      12. OKR-Induced Friction
      13. Key Takeaways
    3. Chapter 17. From Stakeholder Management to Stakeholder Inclusion
      1. Working in a State of Perpetual Displeasure
      2. Why Should You Include Your Stakeholders?
      3. How Do You Include Your Stakeholders?
      4. Dealing with Stakeholders Means Controlling Your Emotions
      5. Key Takeaways
    4. Chapter 18. Scaling Scrum Without Frameworks
      1. Why Your Development Team Structure Might Be Slowing You Down
      2. Fix Your Problems: Do Not Expect That from a Scaling Framework
      3. Why Do Scaling Issues Happen?
      4. What to Do Instead of Defaulting to a Scaling Framework
      5. Key Takeaways
    5. Chapter 19. Empowering Teams to Discover Better Ways of Delivering Value
      1. Making Music Without Making a Sound
      2. It All Starts with Addressing Beliefs
      3. Trying Things Out Requires Psychological Safety
      4. What Does an Empowered Scrum Team Look Like?
      5. How Do You Provide Sufficient Direction and Context?
      6. Create a Model for How Your Product Delivers Value
      7. Discovery, Delivery, and Validation
      8. Scrum Is About Discovering Better Ways of Delivering Value
  19. Index

Product information

  • Title: Driving Value with Sprint Goals: Humble Plans, Exceptional Results
  • Author(s): Maarten Dalmijn
  • Release date: July 2023
  • Publisher(s): Addison-Wesley Professional
  • ISBN: 9780137381876